PickUp Sticks preview
by Thel
Summary: Season Seven: A post-descension Daniel has left the base. Jack is looking for him.


Title: Pick-Up Sticks  
Author: Thel  
Email: kethehotmail.com   
Status: Complete  
Category: Uh, conversation? Bit of mental h/c?   
Season: S7 AU  
Rating: G  
Content Warnings: none.  
Summary: A post-descension Daniel wanders away from the SGC, and Jack sets out to find him.  
Notes: This little vignette is an AU version of Daniel who descends with his memories intact. It was written before the canon-descension. As always, eternal gratitude to Pettygrew for always helping out with insightful comments, and another thanks to my personal cheerleader / drill-sergeant Layton. :)

- - - - -

Daniel sat on the picnic table, elbows resting on his knees. His eyes were closed, head tilted up like a flower seeking the warmth of the sun. His musings were broken by the shrill sound of the cell phone as it chirruped merrily in his back pocket. Without opening his eyes, Daniel flicked it open and spoke softly.  
  
"Hello Jack."  
  
He could hear the suppressed note of worry in the other man's voice. "Hey." There was a pause. "Hey? How'd you know it was me? You getting some of your… 'glow senses' back?"  
  
A small smile quirked up the corner of Daniel's mouth. "Nnnoo… not quite."  
  
Jack's voice changed to a slightly smug tone. "Just knew I'd call, huh?"  
  
Daniel's smile got fractionally larger. Yes, he had known Jack would call, but he'd hardly admit it. "Call display, actually."  
  
"Oh." Jack's voice got softer. "You have that on your phone?"  
  
"Everybody does, Jack."  
  
They paused. Daniel kept the phone to his ear, but rolled his neck slightly, working the stiffness out.  
  
"So." Jack made the first attempt.  
  
"Yes?" Daniel's response was immediate.  
  
"Whatcha doing?"  
  
"Oh. Just thinking."  
  
He could hear a slight, muffled noise as Jack shuffled his feet. Probably stuck a hand in his pocket. "You can think here, you know."  
  
Daniel could feel the warmth of the sun becoming more diffuse. Behind his closed lids, the colours shifted. The sun was beginning to hide behind the trees, casting dappled shadows over his body. "Yeah. About that…"  
  
"Nice and quiet." Jack tried again. "Homey, even."  
  
Daniel gave a small laugh. "Nobody thinks of the base as homey, Jack. They don't want you to. That's why it's so ugly."  
  
"Not ugly."  
  
"…Institutional."  
  
"Neutral." Jack rallied.  
  
"Grey."  
  
"Solid."  
  
"Rigid." Daniel scored a counter-point.  
  
"Severe." Jack allowed.  
  
"Ugly." They spoke together. Daniel hung his head, phone still snug against his ear. Let the shadows play in his hair for now.  
  
"Fine." Jack was magnanimous in his defeat. "So, the décor is a bit… subdued."  
  
Daniel's shoulders hunched up as he bit down a soft laugh. "If by 'subdued' you mean 'devoid of any aesthetic value', then…"  
  
"Lacking."  
  
"Lacking."  
  
There was another pause. Daniel again lifted his face toward the sun, breathing in the still air. Once again, Jack took the lead.  
  
"So… whatcha thinking about?"  
  
"Oh. This and that."  
  
"A little more specifically…"  
  
"Well. Life, death, reality and the nature of our perceptions of the universe and the truths we hold constant."  
  
There was a pause. "So. This and that."  
  
Daniel nodded his head a fraction. "This and that."  
  
There were footsteps now. Jack was pacing in his office. "Daniel, where are you?"  
  
For this question, Daniel actually cracked open an eyelid and looked around. "Umm… in a park."  
  
"A park?"  
  
"Trees."  
  
"Ah. Trees. I can see how you'd miss that."  
  
Eyes closed again, Daniel sought the waning afternoon light. "I missed the sunlight. Just sitting still and thinking."  
  
"Not all fun and games among the ascended?"  
  
"No." Simple word, but it spoke volumes. Jack stopped pacing. Muffled thumps. He was playing with the things on his desk.  
  
"No trees?" Daniel could hear the hundred questions left unspoken, but he answered only the simplest one.  
  
"Oh, lots of trees."  
  
"Grass? Sky?"  
  
"Lots of those too."  
  
"Then?"  
  
"It's just…"  
  
"Just what?"  
  
"Just. Hard to explain."  
  
"Regrets?" Jack spoke it softly.  
  
"No!" Daniel's eyes flew open in surprise. No. What was done was done. He scrunched his eyes shut, the image of the sun bouncing along the insides of his eyelids. "No. Just."  
  
"Just…?" Jack led him on.  
  
"Jack… a few days ago, I could fly." The wonder had still not faded from that particular activity. "There were answers to my questions. I…" He trailed off.  
  
"Daniel?" Jack tried to bring him back.  
  
"This and that, Jack."  
  
The silence stretched. Daniel heard the sound of paper being crumpled and the dry sound of something light striking something solid. Two points. Paper into the waste bucket.  
  
"Hey. I'm not busy. What say I take a little road trip?"  
  
"Missed seeing trees, Jack?"  
  
"You know me. Back to nature and all that."  
  
"This place is a little out of the way."  
  
"I have a map."  
  
"Map?" Daniel frowned.  
  
"Map. Squiggly lines. Pictures. Shows you where you are."  
  
Daniel's frown deepened. Did he know where he was? Could Jack truly show him that? "Ah… a map."  
  
"So…?"  
  
"So?" Daniel was losing himself to the dappled shadows again. The sun was fading.  
  
Jack pulled him back again. Solid and down to earth. "I leave the base along Norad Road. Then?"  
  
Daniel tried to remember how he'd gotten here. He'd been on auto-pilot, making his way to this park he remembered from before. Before…  
  
"Go down Broadmoor Bluffs Drive." He dredged the name up from the past. Another anchor.  
  
The rustle of paper. Jack was laying out his map. "There is no road connecting Norad to Broadmoor."  
  
"I did it, Jack."  
  
"You can fly." A daring counter. He heard Jack draw in his breath, regretting his words. Daniel let the amusement show in his voice.  
  
"You have four-wheel drive."  
  
"True." Jack admitted that, but refused to believe in a mythical link between Norad and Broadmoor. A man who travelled a Stargate from one world to another, but… "From Norad Drive."  
  
Daniel gave in. "Go to the highway."  
  
"The loop? Hate loops."  
  
"Oh, really? Well. There's a great route down Broadmoor-"  
  
"From the loop."  
  
"Get on to the big highway."  
  
"115."  
  
"Um. Sure. The big one."  
  
"115. Then?"  
  
"It turns into a road named for a place. Nebraska?"  
  
"Nevada."  
  
"There you go." Daniel thought. "That big road meets another big road."  
  
"Twenty-five."  
  
Daniel chewed his lip. "Possibly."  
  
Jack sighed. "More loops."  
  
Daniel's head drooped. "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea."  
  
"Daniel."  
  
"Jack."  
  
There was a pause. "Then?"  
  
"Then? West onto Garden of the Gods Road."  
  
"That name you can remember."  
  
"It's… anthropological."  
  
"It's something."  
  
Daniel scratched at the back of his neck as a breeze tickled him. "Keep on that until you get to… 'Forest something'."  
  
A dry sound. Jack was running his finger over the map, tracing the route. "Forest Hill."  
  
"Sounds right. Follow that to the park."  
  
"Park." Another pause as Jack followed the winding streets with his hand. "Jackson Park?"  
  
"It's a nice park."  
  
"Is it anthropological?"  
  
"It has trees, Jack. Sun."  
  
"I'll be there in… twenty-five minutes."  
  
"There's a nice Chinese restaurant on Garden of the Gods."  
  
"Sien Sien?"  
  
Daniel nodded. "You've been there?"  
  
There was a pause. "It's on the map."  
  
"Oh. Good map."  
  
"Very detailed."  
  
Daniel's voice was muffled as his head sunk and his chin touched his chest. The sunlight was rapidly deserting him. "You'll find me? Twenty-five minutes?"  
  
There was a slight noise. Perhaps Jack gripped the phone too tightly. Daniel could almost see him, head cocked and listening. Whatever he heard, his responded quickly.  
  
"Twenty."  
  
Daniel hung up the phone and hugged it to his chest as he tucked his arms up tightly against his body. The sun was fading… but Jack…  
  
Jack was coming. 


End file.
